It’s taken a while to get comfortable with A9. Until last weekend I had mostly spent my time blinking at the numerous menus, experimenting with the schedule dialogue box, randomly building and just looking – It’s easy to get distracted and find yourself exploring the landscape via the excellent intuitive navigation control.
I awoke one morning determined to play a proper scenario – get a better feel for the flow of a game in A9. I chose the first scenario (the designated starter map of the game), consisting of a well-developed office district surrounded by three satellite towns – all eventually, I guess, to be swallowed up as the city expands. Anyway, my point here is that it isn’t until you begin to play for real that attention is drawn to the differences in game play, some subtle – others obvious, and how they’re combining to enhance the game overall.
So, starting today, and for the next few updates, I’ll be looking more closely at the gameplay features new to A9 that are making all the difference. Read more »
What a start to the weekend! I’ve spent most of this evening toying about with my copy of A9. It’s almost bedtime now so I wanted to share a few initial impressions and screen shots of the full game before I turn in. Read more »
A-Train 9 (A列車で行こう９) Demo
In a couple of days Artdink of Japan will release A-Train 9, the latest instalment in their series of Urban Development/Train Management games. In the West we’ll have to wait and see if any distributors are willing to regionalise the game and give it the exposure it deserves (Last year, DHM distributed A-Train 8 in Europe. It was a low-key event, relying mostly upon word of mouth and chatter around the web forums). Read more »
It looks like A9 release has be pushed back slightly (thanks to Alex on the forum for bringing this to attention). It often happens, I guess – either tweaks to the code of the game (though it seems a little late for that), or else some distribution issue. Whatever.
Thought I’d share this new video I have from the December 2009 preview. The various new features are explained and demonstrated. Here we see the flexibiltiy of track and building constructuion as well as the new Power Plant feature.
Please note that I have added some basic translation of my own (read: my wife’s) to the video so it’s worth watching the entire film if you’re curious about what is being explained.
Here are a few screens of A9 that I found the other day. They were taken by someone in the audience at the A9 preview in Tokyo. The game was projected onto a huge screen in an auditorium, this explains the oblique angle of some of the shots.
Looking at them I’m really pleased with how natural and organic the cities will look.
Compare these two city shots of A9 and A8 and immediately you see how Artdink are moving away from the trademark blocky, toy-like quality. I found A8 roads a bit too inflexible and only really suitable for creating the squares that the AI builds automatically around clusters of buildings.
Read more »
UPDATE: My copy of A-Train 9 arrived the other day. A post outlining my initial impressions can be found HERE
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Yesterday, Cyberfront president Huzihara Humi and Artdink CEO Tatsuo Nagahama unveiled A-Train 9 to an audience of gaming journalists and specially selected members of the public. I would’ve loved to have been there. Sadly, I was here, in London.
A9 is looking and sounding really, really interesting. Visuals have been updated and gameplay, whilst retaining the familiar mechanics, has some great new additions. A selection of screen shots and promo videos have been made available. See for yourself…. Read more »
I’ve got Renfro to thank for this little surprise – I was browsing his YouTube Channel this afternoon and noticed the message. It’s the news I’ve been looking forward to for months and I love the moodyness of the home page! Look at those clouds – is that a storm brewing, or…? I’ve got pretty high hopes for this game even though I am still playing, and thoroughly enjoying, both A8 and AHX. Neither Artdink nor the distributors, Cyberfront, have released many details at this early stage. However, what’s certain at this moment is:
- There is a smart new website for the game
- Release is scheduled for Spring 2010
- A press conference is being held on 10.12.09 and 150 members of the public are invited to attend
- Compatible with XP, Vista and Windows 7
No mention about a Western release but anyway that wouldn’t happen for a few months after the Japanese debut. So far no screenshots or movies have surfaced.
Great news, then. I’ll update around the time of the press conference. In the mean time you can discuss the game in the message boards.
A-Train 9 | MarkE231 | 
08/07/2010 15:27 | 
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